• PaidContent.org, Thursday, May 21, 2009 11:49 AM

PaidContent.org's Staci D. Kramer says that contrary to a report in the London Telegraph, Hulu's plans to launch in the UK have not been finalized. Kramer's sources say that no target date has been confirmed, and that no deals are in place with British broadcasting giants ITV and Channel 4, although discussions are ongoing. Apparently, the discussions have hit a snag over who controls the advertising.

Kramer notes that Hulu has three ways to deal with the prospect of international programming: 1) it could bring international programming to its U.S. service, something it is already doing on a small scale; 2) it could make all or part of the U.S. service available via geotargeting, and 3) it could create a new service for each country it enters. However, rights are a big problem. For example, something available in the U.S. might not be shown legally in the UK for weeks, months, sometimes years, and visa versa.

That said, serving up U.S. content on a global scale could go a long way towards tempering piracy, Kramer says, but importing U.S. programming isn't enough; Hulu also needs "domestic" content to succeed as a service. "If ITV, Channel 4 and somehow BBC can be added to the mix, then a Hulu UK makes much more sense," says Kramer. "Will it make money for the equity and distribution partners? Different question."

Read the whole story at PaidContent.org »